Bracie Smathers
Footballguy
ANOTHER ONE I heard and knew I heard it before.My Dark Hour -- The Steve Miller Band
Listen to THIS
Miller stole the riff from himself.
ANOTHER ONE I heard and knew I heard it before.My Dark Hour -- The Steve Miller Band
I never really thought about it, but I can see how Walsh might be in the Bob Dylan/Neil Young "I can't deal with his voice" crowd for some.Obviously Walsh can play guitar but that high pitched whining voice isn't helped by whatever they did on that track.
I watched the Rock and Roll HOF Inductions in 2016 and was surprised how little I knew of The Steve Miller Band prior to "The Joker" album. I was also shocked at Miller's arrogance.61. My Dark Hour -- The Steve Miller Band (from Brave New World)
Brave New World, The Steve Miller Band's first of two albums in 1969, is chock full of good songs. The closer, My Dark Hour, has a unique origin story, and features the non-Steve Miller parts of the Steve Miller Band being played by none other than Paul McCartney.
The Beatles and Allen Klein were at Olympic Studios on the day after the Fab Four had agreed to a management deal with Klein. Well, the Fab Three, as McCartney was against the idea and held out. An explosive argument over the management contract ended with everyone except Paul walking out. According to The Beatles Bible (https://www.beatlesbible.com/1969/05/09/paul-mccartney-plays-drums-steve-miller-my-dark-hour/), Paul recounted:
The rest of the SMB wasn't around, but producer Glyn Johns was, and he recorded the collaboration. Paul:
In other words, Steve Miller lucked into his own Helter Skelter.
The song is indeed aggressive, from the punchy bass to the occasional screeches in the vocals to the guitar solos to the aforementioned drum fills. It's basically blues rock amped up beyond 11. And it's glorious.
Paul was credited as "Paul Ramon" and didn't take a songwriting credit, but there was never any secret about who was involved.
we talked about this and a handful of others during the 1 - 200 song threads.61. My Dark Hour -- The Steve Miller Band (from Brave New World)
His stuff before the Joker is killer and IMO much, much better. Still listen to them a lot.I watched the Rock and Roll HOF Inductions in 2016 and was surprised how little I knew of The Steve Miller Band prior to "The Joker" album. I was also shocked at Miller's arrogance.
He certainly had an interesting early life: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Miller_(musician)
Great album - at the expense of spoiling, A Sailor’s Life is an incredible journey.59. Who Knows Where the Time Goes? -- Fairport Convention (from Unhalfbricking)
Fairport Convention was the band I was referring to in the first post that put out three excellent albums in 1969. The middle one, Unhalfbreaking, was the best and most popular.
Who Knows Where the Time Goes? was the other song I was referring to in the Leonard Cohen post that first appeared on a Judy Collins album in 1968; it was a hit for her. Writer Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention's singer, didn't issue her version with the band until '69, and it is one of the best tracks of Unhalfbricking, a true masterpiece.
Denny's immense vocal talents can be heard throughout the track, and the sympathetic electric guitar rumblings in the background are those of Richard Thompson.
Many folks only know Denny through her role on Led Zeppelin's The Battle of Evermore, but if you like that sort of thing, the Fairport Convention albums with Denny on them are all worth checking out.
Not a fan of the title track?Pip's Invitation said:65. Wild Child -- The Doors (from The Soft Parade)
This was not a great year for The Doors; IMO The Soft Parade is their worst album. All but two songs come off as half-baked to me. The best one, Touch Me, appeared on Bracie's list. Wild Child is the other. It features some pretty heavy blues riffage from Robbie Krieger and points the way to the bluesier sound they would develop on Morrison Hotel and LA Woman. The coda starting at 2:00 is a particularly triumphant moment in their oeuvre.
No, I think it's a hot mess. And I find the spoken intro funny, which I don't think was what they were going for.Not a fan of the title track?
Fairport released many worthy songs in '69. That was one of them. That's all I'll say for now.Great album - at the expense of spoiling, A Sailor’s Life is an incredible journey.
The opening is a bit goofy, but I like the meandering, shifting nature of the song.No, I think it's a hot mess. And I find the spoken intro funny, which I don't think was what they were going for.
I once saw a band called The Zambonis in NYC on a bill with my friends' band. They wore hockey uniforms and all their songs were about hockey. You weren't in that band, were you?
They had other songs that did that better.The opening is a bit goofy, but I like the meandering, shifting nature of the song.
There were no sappy ballads about superheroes, so that automatically makes them better.The opening is a bit goofy, but I like the meandering, shifting nature of the song.
Not my band, but I love the schtick. Probably better than Five For Fighting.
No questionThey had other songs that did that better.The opening is a bit goofy, but I like the meandering, shifting nature of the song.
41 minutes ago, zamboni said:
So strange to see his name on this list.I was also shocked at Miller's arrogance.
He certainly had an interesting early life:
I'd heard the name many times but they flew under my radar.59. Who Knows Where the Time Goes? -- Fairport Convention (from Unhalfbricking)
Fairport Convention was the band I was referring to in the first post that put out three excellent albums in 1969.
If Miller was pissed at the HOF, then take it out on them, not on innocent bystanders. The Black Keys were there to honor Steve Miller and share their love of his music. In interviews with the Keys I have read that Miller had no idea who they were and had no desire to find out. They said he was very rude to them and they left the ceremony as soon as they were done onstage.They had hoped to turn their fans on to some great music that they might not be aware of. Miller crapped all over that idea. He gave off a very strong FIGJAM vibe there.His stuff before the Joker is killer and IMO much, much better. Still listen to them a lot.
His treatment of the Black Keys doesn't seem very cool, but I would think that it had a lot to do with the fact that he was super pissed at the HOF and their treatment of artists. As he clearly states in his acceptance speech.
Never heard it before and its GREAT!55. I Turned You On -- The Isley Brothers (from The Brothers: Isley)
The rhythm is infectious on this one. The guitars stick in your head and never leave. It's the slow-grinding companion to their big hit It's Your Thing from the same year, down to the repeated chants of "sock it to me."
"I started it, but I can't stop it" as a line in a song called I Turned You On? I'll leave it to you to fill in the blanks on that one.
Bonnie's got that "raspy Pearl" voice - sounds just like Janis on this ...
Indeed she does.Bonnie's got that "raspy Pearl" voice - sounds just like Janis on this ...
Bonham is such a monster on this track. Those first two drumbeats are like gunshots.53. Bring It on Home -- Led Zeppelin (from Led Zeppelin II)
As I've said elsewhere, early Zeppelin did some songs that are basically blues parodies, but that's pretty much all Tim and Bracie left me.
Bring It on Home's beginning and ending certainly qualify as that, but starting at 1:45, we've basically got the template for Jack White's career. The guitar riffage is heavy and insistent, and John Bonham's fills are godly.
wap53. Bring It on Home -- Led Zeppelin (from Led Zeppelin II)
As I've said elsewhere, early Zeppelin did some songs that are basically blues parodies, but that's pretty much all Tim and Bracie left me.
Bring It on Home's beginning and ending certainly qualify as that, but starting at 1:45, we've basically got the template for Jack White's career. The guitar riffage is heavy and insistent, and John Bonham's fills are godly.
240-something spots too low, IMO50. Hot Burrito #1 -- The Flying Burrito Brothers (from The Gilded Palace of Sin)
Few singing performances have as much pathos and vulnerability as Gram Parsons' here. It's a countrified weeper on one hand but on the other, the arrangements of the guitars and piano have similar subtleties to what the Beatles were doing in the late '60s. This was how to perform a tearjerker without being square.
Parsons wrote most of the album's songs with Chris Hillman, but this was one of two (as you might guess from the title) that he co-wrote with bassist/pianist Chris Ethridge. "I told Gram I had a couple of old melodies from back when I was growin' up...I played 'em for him and we wrote the two songs that day, and then that night went into the studio and cut 'em," Ethridge said in a 2004 documentary.
I'm surprised nothing from this album made either countdown.Surprised Hot Burrito didn’t make either of the preceding countdowns. A gem of a song.
Glad you pointed out Jorma’s work here - that wailing sound he evokes is the most memorable part of the song.Pip's Invitation said:46. Wooden Ships -- Jefferson Airplane (from Volunteers)
Didn't we already see this song in Bracie's countdown? We did, but not like this.
The Airplane's arrangement is so different from CSN's that it may as well be a different song.
If you think about it, the song is pretty dark and harrowing. CSN's arrangement is brisk and bright and plays up the "very free" and "sail away" aspects of the lyrics. JA's is much more subdued, playing up the "horror grips us as we watch you die" aspects. Jorma Kaukonen's lead guitar bursts are piercing and almost painful to listen to at times, accentuating how something has gone very wrong in the song's universe. The coda of repeated "no, no, no, no," missing from the CSN version, drives that home as well. And there is no joy in the vocals -- Paul Kantner (who co-wrote the song with David Crosby and Stephen Stills), Grace Slick and Marty Balin mean serious business here.
So good.45. Because -- The Beatles (from Abbey Road)
It's the gosh darn Beatles from their last gosh darn masterpiece, and it's not [redacted] or [redacted], so I don't really need to convince you much why it's here.
This song shows how they were innovating to the very end. John Lennon wrote it after hearing Yoko play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on piano and asking her to play the chords backwards. George Martin plays harpsichord and the three non-Ringo Beatles sing in incredible harmony, each of their voices triple-tracked to create the illusion of extra singers. And George Harrison plays a few measures on a then-brand new instrument, the Moog synthesizer. This track gives no indication that these people couldn't stand each other any longer and couldn't wait to stop working together.
Nice call-out. In ordinary years, I'd be hearing this song out of the ying-yang this month for Mardi Gras.44. Cissy Strut -- The Meters (from The Meters)
This song was pretty much the birth of New Orleans funk as we came to know it, and has been covered and sampled up the ying-yang ever since.
There was an earlier version of this song (just titled "You Got To Have A Mother For Me") which stayed in the vaults for nearly 20 years. Same lyrics, different music, still funky as hell. Coulda been a classic if it had been released in '69.47. Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother for Me) -- James Brown (from It's a Mother)
In 1969 James Brown popularized a dance called The Popcorn and released four songs about it, of which this is the best. Based on the rhythm from Cold Sweat, this song is faster and more intricate, yet still funky as hell.
1967's "Get It Together": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ChJDV6_lm447. Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother for Me) -- James Brown (from It's a Mother)
In 1969 James Brown popularized a dance called The Popcorn and released four songs about it, of which this is the best. Based on the rhythm from Cold Sweat, this song is faster and more intricate, yet still funky as hell.
Is this the first recorded interjection of "Maceo!"?
I did see that mentioned when I was putting the list together.There was an earlier version of this song (just titled "You Got To Have A Mother For Me") which stayed in the vaults for nearly 20 years. Same lyrics, different music, still funky as hell. Coulda been a classic if it had been released in '69.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouZ2oNLjoRU
So you're saying it has not surely come?Lots of The Band across the three countdowns, but haven't seen my favorite of theirs (yet). Will hold off in case it's still to come.